Next Generation Assessments - free online resources that can be used to help students develop familiarity and proficiency with the technology skills they will need for next generation assessments. These resources include sample assessment items and interactive online activities that simulate the types of technology tasks students will need to complete.

Creativity Portal - Seasonal themes and photo inspirations to spark creative writing. It provides questions to consider in writing and an extensive word list. Check out the Imagination Prompt Generator for random writing prompts or story starters for your journal.

Ed Helper - Tons of reading and writing activities. Make sure to check out the writing theme unit for daily writing prompts. Some material requires a paid membership.

Education World - This site includes daily writing prompts, the writing process, and writing lessons for grades 1-8. There is also a link to meet authors and many resources not just limited to language arts.

Enchanted Learning - A variety of topics to research, draw and explore. Do a search for essay topics or graphic organizers.

Think Quest Mysterious Story Starters - One way to start a mystery story is to use writing prompts or story starters. On this site, you will find some characters, plots, and writing prompts to help you get started on your own mystery.

Think Quest Story Starters - Here are some story starters that might help you get your story started. Many of these ideas came from the Reading Teacher Book of Lists

Grammar Gorillas - The Grammar Gorillas need help identifying parts of speech. If you click on the right word in the sentence, they'll get a banana. Choose the beginner level (nouns and verbs only) or take the advanced challenge (all parts of speech)

Grammaropolis - A fun way to learn about the parts of speech. Watch short videos starring the cartoon characters that live there, take quizzes, play games and complete word sorts, and color the characters of Grammaropolis in an online coloring book.

Guide to Grammar and Writing - Learn about writing from words to research papers. This site contains loads of lessons, interactive quizzes, PowerPoint presentations, and more, all centered around topics in grammar and writing. Excellent for students and teachers.

IXL ELA Gr. 2-4 - Skills are organized into categories, and you can move your mouse over any skill name to view a sample question. To start practicing, just click on any link. IXL will track your score, and the questions will automatically increase in difficulty as you improve!

Monster Exchange - Create your own monster, describe it, and exchange your descriptions with others so they may reproduce it.

Penguin Punctuation - How to play First choose which game you would like to play and click on it. Make a sentence: Place the penguins in the correct order on the podiums to make the sentence. Which mark? : Drag the penguin with the correct punctuation mark to the empty podium. Make it interesting : Drag the penguin with the correct descriptive word to the empty podium.

ReadWriteThink - ReadWriteThink offers a collection of online student materials to support literacy learning in the K-12 classroom. These interactive tools can be used to supplement a variety of lessons and provide an opportunity for students to use technology while developing their literacy skills

Story Jumper - Kids can learn the basics of storytelling. They'll use imagination combined with decision-making skills to help them achieve their goal of a complete story. They'll learn to match images with words to visually tell a tale, and can even use their own drawing skills to create detailed characters and backgrounds. StoryJumper brings together reading, writing, and imagination, giving kids an outlet to express themselves through storytelling.

Shel Silverstein's Poetry - Kids can learn a lot about what makes a poem, different kinds of poems, and writing poems from the printable activity sheets. Check out the Learning Resources tab to view different poetry workshop kits.

Writing with Writers: Poetry Project - Project idea for teachers. In the course of participating in the "Poetry Writing" project students will: (1) identify unique characteristics of the poetry genre (2) practice poetry writing skills such as rhythm, rhyming, and descriptive vocabulary (3) follow the writing process to create original poetry (4) understand how to review and revise their own writing & (5) use Web technology to post original writing online

NJ ASK LAL - Writing - LAL writing tasks require students to respond in a variety of modes and forms (e.g., expository, persuasive, narrative) and for a variety of purposes, in keeping with standard 3.2 of the CCCS

NJ ASK Strategies - Resources compiled by Michele Barto, EdD for the SRI/ETTC from teacher training in Stockton College

NJ ASK Writing Prep - Get speculative, explanatory and persuasive organizers, prompts, & rubrics. (Designed for grades 6-8, but can be used in 3-5)